Announcements and Accolades – Manufacturer's Edge

Skillful Colorado and Manufacturer’s Edge Partner to Strengthen Colorado’s Skilled Workforce
AdvantEDGE Named a Best Practice by Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Manufacturer’s Edge Hits $1 Billion 5-Year Milestone
Accolades and Opportunities Abound for Sumer Sorensen-Bain
Manufacturer’s Edge and Brighton EDC Announce Subsidized Workforce Training Program
World Trade Center Denver confirms new tenants
Longmont’s economy expected to remain vibrant, experts say
Colorado Manufacturers Encouraged to Apply for Chance to Attend Hanover Messe
Faustson Tool and Manufacturer’s Edge Honored in the Heroes of Manufacturing Series
Manufacturer’s Edge CEO Tom Bugnitz Receives the 2017 CSBR Cosmic Contributor Award
Sumer Sorensen-Bain and Shane Barber Introduce ORG-X on Connect and Collaborate
ADAPT and Manufacturer’s Edge Take Part in Massive Utah-Colorado Collaboration
New Titles and New Faces at Manufacturer’s Edge
Freenotes Shows Off Their Talents!
Find Out More About myRA

Skillful Colorado and Manufacturer’s Edge Partner to Strengthen Colorado’s Skilled Workforce
Skillful Colorado, a nonprofit initiative of the Markle Foundation, and Manufacturer’s Edge are partnering to help Colorado manufacturers find the skilled talent they need to grow and to put more Coloradans on paths to good jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Together, we aim to help Colorado’s manufacturing companies adopt skills-based hiring and employment practices that deepen talent pools. We are also intent on exposing more people to the variety of career paths available in the manufacturing sector so that more Coloradans see themselves in these jobs and pursue them.

Skillful Colorado and Manufacturer’s Edge are a natural pairing. We have a shared interest in strengthening the competitiveness of Colorado’s manufacturing companies; our work together focuses on workforce development and the talent pipeline. We recognize Colorado’s manufacturing companies often struggle to find the talent they need given Colorado’s historically low unemployment. And we know that by adopting skills-based hiring and employment practices, which focus on the skills needed to do a job rather than proxies for skills like degrees, employers can more quickly find the talent they need to succeed.

AdvantEDGE Named a Best Practice by Manufacturing Extension Partnership
The Small Manufacturer’s AdvantEDGE program, a first of its kind business assistance program, was selected as a nationwide best practice among economic development programs by the Manufacturing Extension Partnership – the manufacturing assistance arm of the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST).
Read the full press release
Back to top

Manufacturer’s Edge Hits $1 Billion 5-Year Milestone
Manufacturer’s Edge CEO Tom Bugnitz announced this week that the company helped small- to mid-sized Colorado manufacturing firms increase and retain $1.04 billion in sales since February 2012. Additionally, Manufacturer’s Edge assistance to manufacturers prompted $325.4 million in plant and IT investment and workforce development, $191.5 million in new product & process investments, and led directly to 4,291 Colorado jobs being created and saved. These numbers are tracked and reported by a third-party company contracted by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Read the full press release
Back to top

Accolades and Opportunities Abound for Sumer Sorensen-Bain
Sumer Sorensen-Bain, Manufacturer’s Edge Chief of Programs and Operations, recently received two nearly simultaneous honors which promise to provide her with invaluable ongoing leadership development as well as aiding her tireless efforts to promote manufacturing in the state of Colorado. Having been with Manufacturer’s Edge for over 20 years, Sumer was selected among a short list of up-and-coming business leaders for inclusion in the Colorado Governors Fellowship Program and to travel to Washington, DC, to participate in the prestigious Colorado Capital Conference alongside Senators Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet.
Read the full press release
Back to top

Manufacturer’s Edge and Brighton EDC Announce Subsidized Workforce Training Program
As the go-to resource for all things manufacturing-related in the state of Colorado, Manufacturer’s Edge is committed to providing our statewide manufacturers with the training and consulting services they need in order to grow and thrive. We also pride ourselves on making those services as affordable as possible by connecting clients to grant programs and other funding opportunities. One of the most valuable tools we have to assist us in that effort are our key partnerships on the federal, state, and local level. To that end, Manufacturer’s Edge is excited to announce a new collaboration with our friends at the Brighton Economic Development Corporation that will allow Brighton-based manufacturers to receive subsidized workforce training through the Brighton Investment Program (BIP).
Read the full press release
Back to top

World Trade Center Denver confirms new tenants
“The new World Trade Center Denver development is almost 50 percent leased.
The 650,000 square foot, mixed-use development is slated to open in RiNo in 2020, with 260,000 square feet of rentable space., as well as hotel and retail space.
The project was announced in February 2016.
Early commitments include Colorado Thought Leaders Forum, Water Foundry, Denver Sister Cities, Manufacturer’s Edge and Colorado’s Innovation Corridor Expo Center.”
Read the full press release

Longmont’s economy expected to remain vibrant, experts say

Tom Bugnitz, CEO of the statewide nonprofit development assistance group Manufacturer’s Edge, said even in the often slow-to-adapt manufacturing world Boulder County and Longmont companies are finding space to innovate.

“It’s the beer people, it’s the apparel people, it’s the outdoor people making bikes and backpacks” who are taking manufacturing in interesting new directions, he said.
Advertisement

“What Longmont’s got is kind of a yin and yang,” he said. “It’s got solid manufacturers who come to work everyday and produce products for the defense industry and those type of things. Then you’ve got these creative people, which provides a new energy.”

Read the full article here

Colorado Manufacturers Encouraged to Apply for Chance to Attend Hanover Messe
Colorado manufacturing companies are encouraged to apply for the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) for the opportunity to attend Hannover Messe 2018, a must for decision-makers: the world’s leading industrial show.

Hannover Messe is a weeklong, worldwide event with more than 5,000 international exhibitors and 200,000 of the world’s brightest technical talents gathering to advance the art of worldwide manufacturing. At Hannover Messe, you will find key technologies and core areas of industry – from research and development, industrial automation, IT, industrial supply, production technologies and services to energy and mobility technologies.

Find out more here

Faustson Tool and Manufacturer’s Edge Honored in the Heroes of Manufacturing Series

Fauston Tool Heroes of Manufacturing from Manufacturer’s Edge on Vimeo.

Faustson Tool, a client of Manufacturer’s Edge (the MEP Center in Colorado and part of the MEP National NetworkTM), operates a 16,000-square-foot facility with more than 20 highly skilled employees and is owned and operated by Alicia Svaldi. Faustson Tool remains in the forefront of the manufacturing industry, continuing a tradition of pioneering the newest technology and pushing its limits. Faustson Tool takes on the most challenging applications only a few U.S. companies can handle, using state-of-the-art precision machining to do things no one else in the industry thinks can be done. Faustson’s reputation for innovation and excellence has earned the company prestigious clientele: Faustson Tool manufactured a key component in NASA’s Kepler space telescope, and has worked with Ball Aerospace to produce parts for the U.S. F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter jet.

Manufacturer’s Edge has helped Faustson Tool improve product flow and production, be innovative and stay competitive in today’s manufacturing world. One of the most impressive results of this collaboration has been the development of the ADAPT Advanced Characterization Center, a 3D metal printing research facility.

Read the full article here

Manufacturer’s Edge CEO Tom Bugnitz Receives the 2017 CSBR Cosmic Contributor Award

On December 6, Manufacturer’s Edge (ME) CEO Tom Bugnitz was recognized as the 2017 Cosmic Contributor of the Year at the Colorado Space Roundup. This marks the 5th time the Colorado Space Business Roundtable (CSBR) has awarded an outstanding member or organization from the community for their commitment and contribution to aerospace in Colorado and beyond. Previous recipients include Christie Lee from Lockheed Martin, Oakman Aerospace, and Major General Ret. Jay Lindell.

In his acceptance speech, Tom Bugnitz acknowledged the many people who have supported him in his endeavors. “It is humbling to receive this award from the Colorado aerospace community. As with most efforts, anything we accomplish requires a team and I consider this a tribute to the Manufacturer’s Edge team who day in and day out support Colorado manufacturing and the aerospace community overall. Great thanks from all of us to the Colorado Space Business Roundtable for honoring us with this award.”

Read the full press release here

Cosmic Contributor Award 2017 from Manufacturer’s Edge on Vimeo.

Sumer Sorensen-Bain and Shane Barber Introduce ORG X on Connect and Collaborate

Article by Bart Taylor May 15, 2017, 06:43 am MDT

Two regional developments promise to infuse much-needed expertise into the manufacturing supply chain. This week we report on the Mountain West Advanced Manufacturing Network. Next week, we’ll review Colorado State University’s National Science Foundation grant to study supply-chain dynamics in emerging clusters of small manufacturers.

For the first time, higher education and industry from Utah and Colorado will collaborate in support of a regional advanced manufacturing supply chain, with Department of Defense dollars making it happen.

The Mountain West Advanced Manufacturing Network (MWAMN) will bring together the University of Utah and its new manufacturing extension partnership (MEP) center with Colorado School of Mines, Manufacturer’s Edge (Colorado’s MEP), and ADAPT, the Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies, created a year or so ago with an infrastructure grant from Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade. ADAPT is located at the School of Mines.

It’s a $3 million award, divided equally between Utah and Colorado, that will expand on the additive manufacturing work already coming out of the ADAPT center, connect Utah’s fledgling MEP to the research and data, and expand on the offerings by developing cloud-based repositories of information resulting from the MWAMN’s ongoing work. The approach is to develop advanced capabilities, in part through defense-related contracts, then use the expertise and knowledge gained to upskill and retool manufacturers to better compete in commercial markets.

According to ADAPT Technical Director Aaron Stebner, “This program creates a new manufacturing platform to advance economic and workforce resilience in response to changes in defense spending.” He adds, “Enabling manufacturers to deploy additive manufacturing processes helps diversify their product offerings, expand into non-defense markets, and provide resilient employment and value to their communities and the economy independent of defense spending.”

Tom Bugnitz, CEO of Manufacturer’s Edge, views the grant as a means to empower the next wave of commercially viable, high-tech manufacturers. “As these companies are especially hurt by the up-and-down cycles in defense spending, this project will help these companies use additive manufacturing methods to change from defense products to commercial products and back again quickly and profitably,” he says.

Read the full article at companyweek.com

Manufacturer’s Edge is pleased to welcome five new people to the team and to the larger Colorado manufacturing community. Not only are we lucky to have them join us, but we are honored that they would choose to work for Manufacturer’s Edge.

Read the full announcement from Tom Bugnitz, CEO here

Our Client, Freenotes Harmony Park has done a video covering Adele’s song, “Set Fire to the Rain”. They are submitting it to the TV show America’s Got Talent. This was done using only Freenotes Harmony Park Outdoor Musical Instruments manufactured right here in Colorado!

Millions of people across the US have either not started saving for retirement or are not putting away enough money to insure a comfortable lifestyle. The US Treasury hopes to rectify that problem with a new program that will allow people to invest money directly from their paychecks, checking or savings accounts, or even from their tax returns. The goal of myRA is to allow all American workers the opportunity to invest in their retirement regardless of what programs are offered in the workplace. To see how we can start “building a nation of savers,” please visit the website and find out more about myRA.